Drama as Senate Committee Screens NDDC Board Nominees

There was mild drama yesterday as the Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs screened 15 out of the 16 nominees for the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Midway into the screening of the nominees by the committee headed by Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, a committee member, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, picked holes in the resume of the nominee for the post of Executive Director, Projects, Otobong Ndem (Akwa Ibom), when he appeared before the committee.

He had sought to know why there were discrepancies in the candidate’s educational record, saying from the CV before him, the nominee had his school certificate in 2007, National Diploma in 1999 and Higher National Diploma in 2002.

On his part, Senator George Sekibo wondered why the nominee also claimed to have obtained his Master degree in 2012 and Bachelor of Science degree in 2019.

He also asked him: “As a former member of the House of Assembly, were you a Speaker or a Deputy Speaker? If no, why did you prefix your name with the words ‘Right Honourable’?

Adding his voice, Senator Rochas Okorocha stressed that since Ndem had served in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, he should be asked ‘to take a bow and go’ citing what happened during the confirmation of the Minister of Transportation, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, a former member of the Rivers State House of Assembly, who was accorded a similar courtesy during his screening by the Senate last July.

Another committee member, Senator James Manager, however, engaged Okorocha in heated exchange for insisting that the nominee be asked to take a bow and go.

He pointedly told him: “Senator Okorocha you are new here...you are new here.”

The committee chairman, however, intervened to calm the situation, conceding that it is true that Amaechi was asked to take a bow and go as a former Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

According to him, the questions put to the nominee were serious issues that needed clarification.

Responding to the issues raised, the nominee, Ndem, alluded to the fact that there was omission in his resume, explaining that his first Ordinary Level Certificate which he obtained in 1995 was omitted, added that he got his school certificate result in 2007 so as to enable him study law after his HND programme.

Although the nominee promised to make his certificate available to the committee, he was however asked to take a bow and go.